Inexcusable
by Benson-n-Stabler
Summary: The case of eighteen-year-old Amanda Preston; Detectives Olivia Benson and Elliot Stabler are put on the vicious, cold-blooded case. They search for her killer, but there's a twist in the perp's plot. New evidence comes up about her murder, however, the perp tries to turn the tables. Rated M for language and graphic descriptions.
1. There Were Witnesses

"Okay, get your books out and open up to chapter four, section three; we'll start class of today with some note taking and then we'll get into karyotyping." Groans filled the classroom and Mr. Sing rolled his eyes as he walked to the back of the class towards his desk, "Come on, you're an honors class you can do this."

"It's only seven thirty in the morning," a boy replied, yawning on the very last word.

"Maybe you should get to bed earlier so that you're more awake for my class."

"Suppose we don't want to be here?" Amanda Preston said, sketching on the corners of her notebook.

"Miss Preston, enough with your comments," Mr. Sing sighed, annoyed, "You have another semester with me and then you're out."

"Well if there weren't teachers like you maybe school would be more enjoyable," Amanda said matter-of-factly, putting her pen down. Mr. Sing looked up, glaring at her for a moment before smirking.

"Enlighten me, Miss Preston. Tell me…how _teachers like me_ ruin the high school experience. Keep in mind that you're a straight A student, I can bump that grade down or even throw you out if you don't choose your words wisely."

"School experience in general," she replied after a short moment of thought, "and it's pervy teachers like you." Mr. Sing had reached her desk then, glaring down at the girl. She stood up, not intimidated by him like the other students were at the moment, so that he wasn't towering over her. "You think we don't notice you staring at other girl's asses? Teenage girls, I might add. Nobody here has the balls to tell you off except for me. I speak for the students, sir." He raised his hand then, slapping her across the face. Collective gasps escaped the other students, but Amanda retaliated quickly, smirking at his angry face. "I'll have your teaching license for that, Mr. Sing. Medieval disciplinary tactics have been banned from schools, surely you know that."

"Get out of my class now," he hissed. Amanda grabbed her bag and her books, turning back to him once before she left. She muttered something too low for the other students to hear and left the room in silence; the class remained completely mute.

_**XxxxX**_

"Female, Caucasian, late teens." Melinda said, writing down the information, "It looks like she was beaten and thrown from the back of a car. Severe head injuries, she was struck numerous times with a blunt object. I found some glass in the cuts, either she put up a struggle or the perp hit her with a bottle."

"Was she dead before the hit the pavement?" Elliot asked, kneeling down as he pulled the blanket back some. Melinda shook her head.

"She was hemorrhaging before she died; the perp threw her from the car after a brutal beating…it looks to me like he tried to mutilate her so she couldn't be identified."

"Did you find any I.D.?" Olivia questioned as she glanced down at the girl in front of them.

"No, they cleared her wallet and purse of everything that could give us a name. All I could find were some tampons and make up. Her credit cards, driver license, receipts…anything with her name on them were all taken."

"So we have a Jane Doe."

"Appears so, for the time being. Whoever did this, had a personal reason for attacking her. And they weren't first timers either."

"So why are we here if it's a homicide?"

"Her panties were ripped down her legs and blood trailed down from the inner thigh and onto the pavement. So far no fluids, but from the looks of things she was a virgin." Melinda gathered up her stuff as the EMTs put the body onto a gurney and rolled it away.

"So we're looking for a perp with a motive…bloody car seats, or a bloody van." Olivia said, "Maybe Fin and Munch could get some of the videos from last night. How long has she been dead for?"

"A few hours, possibly around two thirty this morning."

_**XxxxX**_

"Do we have any leads?" Cragen asked, leaning against Munch's desk; Munch sat in the chair, looking bored as he waited on hold.

"No one in particular; we don't know her name. She could be any one of the girls missing in New York since last night." Olivia said, pushing back from her desk, "We have to wait until six for the next set of names."

"All we know so far is that she was beaten to death by somebody with a motive. She was raped and thrown out of a car. Warner says we'll have more information soon, which should be any minute now. Cragen nodded and headed into his office.

"I'm still on hold," Munch sighed, glancing between the detectives, "When we'll get the security footage, who knows…these people take forever to get back to you."

"Just hold on there, John." Fin smirked, getting up from his desk to get some more coffee, "Anyone want another cup?"

"No, thank you," Olivia replied, followed by Elliot's response. He got up to get his own before returning to his desk, "Perfect timing; Warner just called and she has some more information for us."

_**XxxxX**_

"I still don't have a name but the glass I found in her wounds is a laminated safety glass from a car window. She put up a fight to get away, probably broke the glass with something inside to get away."

"She just wasn't fast enough." Elliot replied slowly. Melinda nodded and turned the light off behind them.

"I found some fluids," the blue light showed a significant amount inside her injuries, "Perp used a condom but still pulled out. He probably didn't think ejaculating in her injuries would leave a DNA match."

"So he's a sick bastard," Olivia said with a look of disgust on her face.

"Her cuts are also infected."

"Well the streets of New York rarely get cleaned in lower Manhattan," Elliot shrugged.

"Something tried to get her," Melinda continued, "however, it didn't get very far. I found the saliva in some of the cuts, it was a wild dog. Someone must have scared it off before it could finish her off."

"Do we know who this person was?" Elliot asked, facing Olivia. She shook her head.

"He called in anonymously."

"Anything else, Doc?"

"No fingerprints, but I will work on the semen sample. Maybe there's a match in the system."

_**XxxxX**_

"Security footage came in," Fin said, dropping two boxes full down on Olivia's desk. "All different angles, same time, all on that one corner she was found in. You're welcome." Olivia rolled her eyes but smirked.

"Thanks, but not so fast." She said, "Elliot's home for the night so it looks like it's just you and me."

"Should I start the coffee?"

"Yes," she replied, pulling out some tapes as Fin dragged himself over to the coffee maker.

.

"We've watched the same incident over and over and we still can't get a good glimpse of the perp's face." Olivia sighed, rubbing her head as she leaned back uncomfortably.

"Well so far, we've seen the rape and beating."

"Yeah, the perp tried beating her brains in while he raped her. Chivalry all around," she muttered sarcastically, shaking her head. "It's too dark to even see his face."

"We're gonna hear it from Munch tomorrow about how long it took him to get these just to find out that they didn't help in the slightest." Fin replied, pausing the recent tape. He put another one in, pressing play. The same replay, "Hold on. There's three people in that car."

"I don't see the third, where are they?" Olivia asked, squinting at the screen as she leaned forward to see better. Fin pointed at the screen; he paused it and circled the area on the screen.

"Right there, sitting in the passenger's seat."

"He's just watching."

"Probably getting off on her pain while his buddy goes first," Fin said, disgusted.

"Any other videos that can help?" Olivia asked, searching through the tapes. Fin shook his head.

"Not unless you want to watch thirty more." She glanced up at the clock and sighed.

"I'll get Elliot to finish them with me tomorrow," Olivia said, "You should probably get home, I'll stay here."

"I appreciate your sacrifice, but I think you could use your bed at home for once." Fin replied, "Come on, these will still be here tomorrow, Liv." She gave in after a moment and turned the monitor off before grabbing her jacket and heading out to her car.

_**XxxxX**_

"You know I could have stayed her and watched these too," Elliot said, handing Olivia her cup of coffee.

"Yes, but you have your family." Olivia pointed out, "Besides, Fin and I didn't make a break through until about one-thirty this morning."

"Oh yeah? What'd you find?"

"Well, we couldn't exactly get a clear shot of the perp's face because it was too dark, however, it seems that we're not searching for two perps as opposed to one."

"She was raped by two men?"

"We only saw one man rape her, but the other guys seemed just as eager." Olivia explained, "And since we don't have any leads yet, we get to stay here and finish the rest of them."

"Lucky us," Elliot mumbled, following her into the video room, "How many left?"

"I think Fin may have exaggerated when he said thirty, but we were tired. I'd say about fifteen."

"Olivia, Elliot," Cragen peered into the room, opening the door as he stepped inside, "We have a young man here who claims a teenage girl was missing from class today. I think you need to hear this."

.

"I'm Detective Benson, this is my partner Detective Stabler, how can we help you?" Olivia asked as they stepped into the room; the boy glanced up at them, looking almost pale.

"Detectives, a girl who goes to my school has been missing for the last two days." He started, nervously fidgeting in his seat, "S-she got into an argument with my Bio teacher Tuesday morning…h-he hit her."

"He hit her?" Elliot asked, "Like across the face?"

"Yeah," he nodded, "Um, she said some stuff to him and he got really angry and just hit her, right in front of the entire class."

"Nobody stopped him?"

"You know how kids are with bullying…we're too afraid to speak up sometimes." He replied, "I guess we should have this time though."

"Okay, well let's start from the beginning. Can you tell us your name and hers?"

"Keaton Johnson." He answered, "Her name is Amanda Preston; straight A honors and AP student."

"What were they arguing about?"

"Well, I got a video on my phone," Keaton said, reaching into his pocket, "I started recording the argument because she said what all of us were thinking about him and you know, some of us blog about our crappy school experiences. She was the only one brave enough to actually say our thoughts out loud. We didn't think he'd slap her though." He handed his phone to Elliot and pressed play:

"_Miss Preston, enough with your comments," Mr. Sing sighed, annoyed, "You have another semester with me and then you're out."_

"_Well if there weren't teachers like you maybe school would be more enjoyable," Amanda said. _

"_Enlighten me, Miss Preston. Tell me…how teachers like me ruin the high school experience. Keep in mind that you're a straight A student, I can bump that grade down or even throw you out if you don't choose your words wisely."_

"_School experience in general," she replied, "and it's pervy teachers like you." Mr. Sing had stepped up to her desk then, glaring down at her. She stood up, "You think we don't notice you staring at other girl's asses? Teenage girls, I might add. Nobody here has the balls to tell you off except for me. I speak for the students, sir." He raised his hand and struck her across the face. Gasps erupted from the other students, but Amanda retaliated quickly, smirking up at his angry face. "I'll have your teaching license for that, Mr. Sing. Medieval disciplinary tactics have been banned from schools, surely you know that."_

"_Get out of my class now," he hissed. Amanda grabbed her bag and her books, turning back to him once before she left._

The video ended and Elliot handed it back to him, "Can you send us that video?"

"Yeah sure," Keaton said, already setting it up.

"Do you know what she said to him in the last few seconds?" Olivia asked. Keaton shrugged, shaking his head.

"Sorry, none of us heard her. But Mr. Sing got really freaked out after she said it."

"Do other kids notice him staring at girls?"

"Yeah; she's right, he's pervy. And he's not married so he's not getting any often. He stares at a lot of the girls, more often than not, he watches them. He'll stare longer than necessary and most girls don't like how he stands over them when they're writing. He likes to do the old 'peek down the shirt' technique. So we think."

"Do you know if Amanda's parents have reported her missing?"

"Her parents are out of town for the week; they both travel for work and went down to Mexico for a vacation. She insisted on staying here to study for exams coming up."

"Did you see her after school at all that day?"

"Yeah, but Mr. Sing wanted to see her afterschool for detention." Keaton answered, "I told her not to go back there but she said she wasn't afraid of him."

"Alright, we'll look into this right away. Thank you, Keaton."


	2. Confession

"Why am I here?"

"Well, Mr. Sing, I'm sure you've heard about Amanda Preston," Olivia started, "…we were notified by a student about your recent argument with her. How about we talk about that first?" He laughed, shaking his head.

"There's nothing to talk about."

"You're pretty quick to deny," Elliot said from his spot by the door, "but we didn't bring you in here to let you walk out two seconds later…tell us about the argument."

"I don't see why I have to! I didn't do anything to that girl besides throw her out." Mr. Sing defended, outraged. Olivia and Elliot waited for him to answer, but he just stared back, glaring, "I didn't touch her."

"Not according to the video we were shown," Olivia said, watching the Biology teacher's face drop, "In the video you hit her across the face in front of twenty other students. Why'd you hit her? What snapped?" He sat back in his chair, shaking his head nervously.

"She threatened to have the school board take my license away," Mr. Sing replied slowly, "I couldn't let her do that."

"Why not? You _did_ hit her," Elliot said.

"She's always countering what I say," he said, angrily, "someone would have ended up hitting her if I didn't."

"So you thought you'd step in and do it before someone else did," Elliot guessed, "does that get you a Teacher Of the Year Award now, or something?"

"I didn't want to hit her…"

"No…but you did. You don't deserve your teaching license if you can't handle a kid. You don't know how many times a day I want to backhand a kid but I won't just for the sake of my job and family." Elliot accused, as Mr. Sing tried to cut him off with his own response.

"You have a family?"

"Not the subject," Elliot reprimanded, "We're talking about you and Amanda Preston. Now _tell us_ about the argument!" He spoke in a stricter tone now, growing impatient.

"Mr. Sing it seems like you're trying to hide something from us," she said after a moment, "I'd listen to him, my partner can get very angry; believe me, I've known him for over a decade now."

"I didn't do anything to Miss Preston."

"Then why won't you tell us what happened that day?"

"You've already seen a video, haven't you?"

"Yes, but we want to know what she said to you. Surely, it was directed towards you, you were the only one who heard her." He remained quiet and Elliot sighed.

"Alright, either you tell us what happened and what she said to you or we finish what she started."

"No! No…she had my class first period that morning," Mr. Sing said, looking down at his hands, "she started arguing with me, saying I'm ruining the school experience and that I'm a pervert. I swear, I've never touched a teenage girl in that school, or out of it."

"A student who spoke to us said that you tend to linger the female students longer," Olivia stated, carefully, "they say you look down their shirts…"

"That's not true! I have never harmed or looked down a female student's shirt! This is insane!" He yelled, throwing the chair backwards as he made his way over to the window.

"Well we also heard that you asked Amanda to stay after school for a few moments," Olivia continued, hoping to break the story out of him, "Is that true?"

"Y—yes, but I wanted to talk to her about her behavior. That I didn't appreciate her disrespecting me in my own classroom." There was a knock on the window, and Olivia followed Elliot out.

"What's up captain?" Elliot asked.

"Who's your suspect?" Cragen nodded in the direction of the teacher.

"Mr. Allen Sing," Olivia replied, "a student by the name of Keaton Johnson tipped us off about him. It seems he and Amanda Preston, the girl Keaton said was missing, got into an argument the day she was missing. She said some stuff, he hit her in the middle of class, she walked out but he asked her to come back so he could discuss her behavior."

"Okay, but do we have a lead on the other case?"

"Not yet, but the ME thinks the girl in the morgue is Amanda."

"So you think that this guy could be our lead?" Cragen asked. Both Elliot and Olivia nodded in confirmation.

"If we can get him to crack. He refused to talk about what happened at first but we got him to open up a little. A few minutes more and I think we've got him." Olivia explained, "from what Keaton's told us, this man thinks he's God's gift to women."

"He's already lingered too long in there." Elliot said. Olivia cut her eyes at the teacher before Cragen changed the subject.

"Fin told me there were two men in that car with her."

"Maybe we can get the other guy's name out of him." Elliot suggested. Cragen nodded after a moment but held a finger up in warning.

"If he doesn't crack, he walks and we have no leads."

"And if he wants a lawyer? We won't be able to talk to him then."

"We'll deal with it. But he'll still have to testify about that day, and even then the truth could come out."

"Got it captain," they headed back into the room, suddenly overhearing the teacher battling with himself.

"Why the hell would I do that? I wouldn't! She threatened to have my license taken away! What was I supposed to do; let her?" He muttered to himself, not realizing he had practically shouted it in rage.

"What do you mean?" Olivia asked, stopping short; Elliot almost bumped into her but he heard the man clear as day.

"What?"

"You just said you didn't let her get away with it. What do you mean by that?" Olivia questioned. Elliot walked around her, standing beside her now; his expression matching hers.

"I—I…yes, alright, I took matters into my own hands," he said slowly, "but you need to hear me out—,"

"What do you mean you 'took matters into your own hands'?" Elliot asked in a hard voice, "Just tell us. What'd you do to her?"

"You don't understand! I had too!" He returned to his chair, looking down at the table again only this time he looked as though he was about to beat his skull against it. "I—I did it…I killed her."

"And you didn't think you'd lose your license for killing her?" Elliot yelled. He crouched into his chair, trying to distance himself from the furious detective.

"But no one else would tell that I hit her! No one but her!"

"That's where you're wrong you son of a bitch!" Elliot snapped, leaning down low across the table, "We've got a student who's going to testify against with video evidence of you smacking her across the face!"

"She threatened me—!"

"That doesn't excuse rape and murder! No jury's going to look past that!" Elliot spoke in a dangerously low voice now, "She was going to graduate this year, now she's dead because of you and instead of her parents celebrating her achievements they'll be mourning at her casket!" His voice rose on each word; he didn't even try to calm himself down and he ignored Olivia's attempts. "You should have just let her tell on you! You'd be in trouble with the damn school board not the law! That'd be a slap on the wrist compared to what you're going to get at Riker's!"

"Elliot calm down—,"

"You don't understand—!"

"No! _You_ don't! I have a wife and five kids. I've seen four of them graduate; it's supposed to be the happiest, proudest moment for everyone. How do you think her parents feel right now, huh?" He snapped.

"Detective, I didn't rape her!"

"But you witnessed it happen and you murdered her, didn't you?" He waited for a response; he didn't receive one and Elliot repeated himself much louder, "Didn't you?"

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't apologize to me," Elliot hissed, straightening up. He shook his head, scolding the terrified man sitting down, "it wasn't my daughter you murdered." He turned to leave the room, about ready to slam the door behind him.

"I may as well have," Allen muttered. Elliot whipped around, taking two large steps across the room before throwing the table out of his way and grabbing the man by the collar of his jacket. Olivia tried to stop him but Elliot had just brushed right by her.

"You sick son of a bitch! Say it again, I dare you!" Elliot yelled, "What? Too afraid now that I'm up in your face? 'Afraid to take a punch?"

"Elliot—!" Olivia cried, trying to pry his grip off of the man's shirt.

"You've got a lot of balls for threatening me like that," he continued, despite Olivia's futile attempts. Elliot smirked at the man's fear; he released the fabric, throwing the man backwards some, "You're lucky I'm not gonna kill you! I've got a gun on my belt and believe me, I want to use it for that comment but I won't sink to your level because unlike you I have a tougher skin when it comes to my job and a few easy to fix threats."

"You just attacked me!" The man sputtered.

"Oh yeah, try and tell a jury to evict me from my job because I only harmed your twenty dollar jacket." With that, he stormed out of the room, leaving Olivia just as stunned as the teacher. A few minutes after, she went looking for her partner only to discover him taking the rest of his anger out on his locker door.

"Elliot!" She ran over and jumped in front of him, nearly taking a punch that was meant for the metal. He stopped, surprised that she had just risked her consciousness, "Elliot stop!" She spoke softer now, placing her hand over his damaged one. "You're going to break your hand if you continue this."

"Liv, you heard what he just said in there—,"

"Yes, and we have a job that you can't do with a broken fist."

"Better I break my wrist than his face."

"Well I don't think Cragen wants to replace your locker door just because you needed to release some anger." She said, smiling to rid the tension. Elliot rolled his eyes at her but returned her smile with one of his own. "Come on, I'll go back in there and get the name of the second man while you go see Warner and get a bandage wrap for your hand, okay? If I need you, I'll call you in. Besides, I'm a big girl…I can handle a perp just as well as you can."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You don't always have to be the macho cop," she smirked; she turned and left the locker room, going back to the question room their perp was currently stationed in.

"I'll sue the NYPD for assault." The man said as she walked in.

"Well I'm not apologizing for my partner's actions because that comment you made was out of line. You definitely deserved worse than you got but since it goes against our duties, consider yourself lucky." She sat down, throwing her pad and pen down onto the table that was recently standing back up. "Who was your accomplice?" Olivia added, glaring hard at the man now. "You were the last one to see her that day, but you two weren't alone. So who was the other man?"

"I want a lawyer."

"Fine, but you may want to consider your previous statements. You already confessed; a lawyer by this point would be fruitless. Why don't you just give me a name and we'll arrange for you to speak to one when we're done here."

"That name will have to remain anonymous."

"You could already be serving twenty-five to life, do you really want a contempt charge added to that?" Olivia asked, "a name. _Now_."

"You're very stubborn detective. I have to say, I really enjoy it." He smirked, matching her closed off position; he crossed his arms over his chest like she did and kept eye contact with her for a moment before his eyes travelled.

"You lied to us, Casanova. I'm pretty sure that 'I-don't-stare-at-teenage-girls' crap was all an act, am I right?"

"Very good, I see why you're a lead detective."

"Do you not even feel remorse for killing her?"

"I felt guilty when it happened, but that's just it. It happened, I had no control and I can't change that."

"So tell me, did you rape her?"

"No, I find my piece of heaven in older women. However, I'd be lying if I said it wasn't a turn on when everything was happening."

"While she was struggling to get away? When you smashed her head into the glass and the shards cut into her skull. You found, her bleeding, trying to escape, a turn on?"

"I thought you wanted a name, detective."

"I do, but I'm not sure you'd give it up."

"Richard Lombardi," he said after a moment, "The math teacher she had last year, whom she also gave hell."

"So this was a personal attack," Olivia concluded; she stood up then and smirked, "I'll get you that lawyer now." She stepped out of the room, meeting Alex who was watching her, surprised.

"You just got him to confess that easily?" Alex asked as soon as she shut the door, "A lawyer would be pointless now. I have enough to convict the both of them right this moment and send them off to Riker's without a jury hearing."

"Well, I think we should let this go to court," Olivia said, "her parents need closure and the best way is for them to hear the truth and watch them get put away."

"I'll talk to the judge now."


	3. Taking Control

"Do we have a DNA match for our Jane Doe?" Elliot asked as he and Olivia entered the morgue. Melinda gave them a file with a satisfied expression.

"You're going to like the answer; Munch told me everything. Your victim's name is none other than Amanda Preston." She said, pulling the blanket back, "I discovered some cement burns on her elbows and shoulders, which along with our security footage, proves she was thrown from the car. Still no hits on the semen—,"

"Can you look up a Richard Lombardi, maybe in the system under a different state? Our first perp ratted him out after thirty minutes of flirting with me," Olivia explained, "we may have this case over sooner than we thought."

"I'll look it up," Melinda nodded, heading over to her computer, "but we will need a sample from both to make sure they are the real perps and not covering up someone else."

"Yeah, well this guy was singing like a canary. He's been locked up in our precinct for over three hours since we questioned him." Elliot said, standing behind the two women at the laptop. They watched as Melinda typed in his name under the search bank.

"Any idea what this guy looks like?"

"Not yet, but he was Amanda's math teacher the previous year. He shouldn't be that hard to find."

"Except he is. He's not in the system under another state." Melinda replied, "But he's one hell of an expert at mutilation and leaving his finger prints out, considering this had to have been his first murder."

"Unless he's also an expert as getting around the law."

"Well, whatever he is…" she trailed off, returning to the girl's body, "I had to remove a few layers of skin that was burned in order to get a clear view of what she should look like. I've called her parents in, they'll be here soon to confirm the body. Did they ever file a missing persons report? When I spoke to the father he was extremely shaken…"

"I checked, but her name didn't appear at all. The student that came in and reported her missing said her parents were out of town for the week," Olivia answered, shaking her head at the ME while Elliot examined the girl; his expression slightly pained at the seriousness of her injuries. He was just barely listening, but he knew all of it already, "We were going to head down to the neighborhood and ask around, maybe see if somebody noticed her absence at all."

"I think we should check out this Lombardi guy first," Elliot chimed in.

"Cragen wants to see us before then," Olivia told him, glancing over at her partner, "He wants to straighten out the details before he releases anything to the press; but before then we also need her parents confirmation."

"Why don't I give you the full synopsis then?" Melinda suggested. When they both nodded, she continued, "So we have seminal evidence that she was raped; we have video evidence of both the rape and murder. From what you could see, only one man raped her and the seminal fluids confirm only one; she was a virgin, so there is some vaginal scarring and blood lining her inner thighs from the forced entry. Her wrists were tied behind her back; she has ligature marks from a cable wire. The girl tries to escape once he's ejaculated inside of her, he grabs her by the throat leaving the bruised lining. He hits her head against the glass a few times, but not hard enough to break it, only enough to make her lose some consciousness. Then she goes to break the glass to get out, the glass finally gives out and cuts into her skull. This causes her to become dizzier and weaker from the blood loss now added. I'm going to assume he enjoyed her struggle which is why her legs weren't tied. To finish her off, he slits her wrists and throat and she's dead within seconds. She bleeds out so the burns and mutilation were postmortem. He burns her fingers so her prints can't appear, and cuts into her face so the blood and markings make it hard to identify her; the perp tried to give her a Glasgow smile but the cuts weren't large enough to stretch and open more. For mom and dad, I sued them back together…I don't think her parents need to see her face opened that much. It was the only thing he didn't do perfectly right on her." Elliot and Olivia had matching pained expressions on their faces as she explained the extent of the girl's death, "They then throw her out of the car as they begin to drive off, which creates the cement burns on her shoulders and elbows. Her head hits the cement at a large force, cracking the back of her skull open. All of which took place about two-thirty that morning; she was dead around two-fifty and we found her around noontime. She was dead for almost ten hours before someone called her in."

"Well he is a math teacher, 'precision is key' as mine used to say," Olivia sighed, "Maybe this guy's just the same."

_**XxxxX**_

"Is he our guy?" Cragen asked, putting his pen down as his two lead detectives stepped into his office.

"He is, and he gave us his partner's name," Olivia replied, "Warner gave us the full conclusion, and her parents confirmed it was Amanda."

"What's the other perp's name?"

"Richard Lombardi. The ME claims he's a skilled mutilator but this seems to be his first murder. We're not sure if he's using an alias or he's just never been caught." Elliot explained, taking the seat next to Olivia. Cragen looked between the two as he contemplated their next move.

"Give me the details I can give to the press and then go arrest him."

_**XxxxX**_

**Xavier High School  
30 W 16th St, New York, NY 10011  
October 7**

"_NYPD _Detectives Stabler and Benson, can we speak to a Mr. Richard Lombardi?" Elliot asked upon reaching the school's main office. None of the secretaries had even looked up; at least two of them were on the phones with parents while the other two paid attention to their paper work.

"Excuse me," Olivia said, slightly louder; they looked up then, irritated by the sudden interruption, "Detective Benson, my partner Detective Stabler; we're from the NYPD. We need Richard Lombardi _now_." They looked taken aback by her forceful tone while Elliot couldn't help but smirk.

"Mr. Lombardi didn't come into work today," the blonde haired replied with the same irritation, "I'm sorry."

"Alright fine, do you have an address we could find him at?"

"The Luxe Apartments, 3G." They left the school, returning to the car quickly.

"He didn't come into work today, how convenient." Elliot said, starting the engine up; he glanced over at Olivia before pulling away from the curb, "I wouldn't put it past Sing to give him a warning."

"Either that, or he's waiting for us if he's as smug as Sing was."

_**XxxxX**_

**Residence of Richard Lombardi, Apt. 3G  
330 West 56th Street New York, NY 10019  
October 7**

"NYPD, open up!" Olivia yelled, readying her gun in front of her, "Richard Lombardi, we're the police! Open up!" They waited for a sound, but were met with silence. Elliot signaled her before she stepped back, out of his way. He kicked the door just below the lock, feeling it spring open a moment after him. Once inside, they looked around confused, "It's empty…"

"He must have skipped town," Elliot said, checking the rooms.

"Unless everything we were told about him is an alias," Olivia answered, opening closet doors, "His name, his address, his job…what if it's all fake? A scam to lead us off. I think they were playing us from the beginning."

"So we bring Sing back in and demand he tell us where his partner in crime went," Elliot said, "but we may have to hurry. We can't exactly chase him across the country, we'll have to let departments know his map and even then we have nothing until we know what kind of car, the license plate, and if he left any trails—,"

"El," Olivia called from the hallway, "he's got photos from the crime scene."

"Let me see those," she handed over a small stack and Elliot went through them, "these must be his trophies…" the photos displayed Amanda, half naked and bleeding out onto the seat; they were almost too hard to look at. He handed looked on the back of them, each one having the date and the name, "he's gonna start out somewhere else and rape another."

"We need to head back to the precinct now."

_**XxxxX**_

"Where is he?" Fin asked as Elliot and Olivia stormed into the precinct twenty minutes later; Elliot nearly had a death grip on the back of Allen's shirt as he dragged him from the cells and shoved him into a questioning room. Olivia ran over to her desk, searching through her drawers for a pen.

"Fin, come with me we need to rewatch those tapes and get a license plate," she didn't wait for him, she just went over to the computer screens and pulled up the footage from the night it all happened.

"You want to inform us of what the hell is going on?" Munch asked as he stood beside her. Olivia typed furiously, pulling up six different videos at once, "Liv?"

"We went to pick up Richard Lombardi only to end up in an empty apartment that was cleaned of everything but souvenir photos from Amanda Preston's rape and murder." Olivia summarized, "Elliot and I think he's skipping town, he could be anywhere right now. We need to catch him…he might be living an aliased life so his name can't be registered in the system. He can get away with anything, like more rapes and murders if we don't stop him."

"Pause the video right there, Liv," Fin said, "I think I just saw the license plate number." She rewound the video, pausing it where he said to, "Okay 739 dash TI4." She wrote them down and turned to Fin.

"Try and get the car type for me, please, I'm going to go help Elliot. I want this case over, now." All she could think of right now was his latest victim; he might not have had a target yet but that wouldn't stop him if he was, in fact, as bad as they assumed. She burst into the room, startling both her partner and the perp. "Where'd your partner run off too, huh?" She asked, throwing the photos down in front of him onto the table, "if you don't tell us you'll be dealing with more than just my partner, I can assure you of that."

"You seem worked up, detective." He said, smirking, "I already told you everything I know. I didn't even expect him to skip town…"

"Don't lie to me right now," Olivia retorted, "I want him stopped and caught before we're called in for another one of his victims."

"I don't know where he went."

"Fair enough…did you tell him you ratted him out and that we were coming for him?" Elliot hung back, letting her to the questioning; he wasn't sure if it was a good idea to try and overlap her questions at the moment.

"I don't need to end up the same way as Amanda," Allen said, briefly cutting his eyes at her chest; Olivia didn't waver, she snapped her fingers in front of his eyes and regained his attention on her face.

"So you have no idea where he is?"

"Not a clue."

"We need to know what he looks like, and right now I'm making it my decision that you explain every facial feature, every strand of hair to a sketch artist…that's how far you've put yourself in this mess."

"I understand you're allowed to use force, but I think you're too emotionally attached to this case, detective."

"He _mutilated_, _burned_,_ raped, _and _killed _a teenage girl while you watched," Olivia hissed, "I'm not playing games. I take my job seriously, especially when the welfare of a child is concerned."

"I get it," Allen said, nodding, "I'll take whatever consequence I'm given. I'm sorry I can't help you find Richard."

"Well he's definitely trying to hide what he's done," she said, standing up straight, "we'll find him once we send his license plate and car out across state lines." With that, she left the room and Elliot brought him back to the holding cells.

"Liv, he drives a red 2010 ford focus," Fin said.

"Okay I'm going to get Cragen to send out a watch," she replied. Elliot was calling in the sketch artist when Olivia passed him to Cragen's office. She knocked quickly before pulling the door open and stepping inside, "Captain, we need a watch sent out for out perp asap. Elliot and I went to grab him but the school said he never came in this morning and his apartment was emptied. We think he skipped town and is looking for his next victim. We can't find him in the system but we think he's using an alias. He might have changed to a new one recently."

"Liv, sending out a watch might take a few hours," Cragen said, standing up; he walked around her and headed out into the main room, "I'm not saying I won't send one out, but our perp may already be out of reach."

"Captain, I just need to catch this guy," Olivia sighed, "I'll take whatever you can do."

"I'll get the word out."


	4. Upping the Numbers

"_NYPD is searching for Richard Lombardi. He's suspected to have raped and killed eighteen-year-old, Amanda Preston. They are asking if you see this man," she held up the drawing as she spoke, "To contact your local police, or the NYPD. They ask that you do not approach or follow him as they believe he could be armed. The search has been extended throughout New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. More information shortly…"_ Fin, Munch, Olivia, and Elliot had gathered around the tvs as they watched the news report; they had yet to hear anything, the phones were still silent aside from the occasional.

"Don't worry Liv, we're gonna catch this guy," Fin said, rubbing her arm supportively. She nodded, but they could still see the anticipation and need written all over her face. Elliot turned the television off, turning to face the three other detectives.

"He can't hide forever," he said, repositioning himself so he was seated on the desk next to her.

"His prints aren't in our system. I'm stuck on this theory that he's someone else, he gives himself a new alias and runs. Nobody suspects him as a killer because he's never been caught." Olivia sighed, looking down at the grain in the table, "I just…"

"We'll find him," Fin said again, stressing her to listen, "We've caught people like him before. We've tracked down numerous aliases and earlier crimes on half the perps in jail. He's not going to get away, especially when everyone knows his profile."

"Most perps go to places they're aware of, or familiar with. He's probably going to return to an earlier address and hide out." Munch shrugged, "He couldn't possibly get too far from the city."

"We don't know what time he left, John," Olivia said in a resigned voice, standing up, "I don't disagree with what you're saying, but if he's done this before he knows exactly how and when to leave."

"We don't know if he's done this before though. There are no signs in Amanda's file that match specifically to another case. His attack on Amanda was personal, based on what we've gathered from Sing," Elliot replied, glancing over at his partner; she looked ready to say something but he held a hand up to stop her, "I know, your theory…but Liv, we can't know any of that until we find him. I doubt Cragen, or Internal Affairs, will appreciate us going out on just a hunch. We need solid proof." Cragen entered then, as if on cue, looking between the four detectives.

"A body was just found, thrown from a car out onto a highway in Rhode Island," He said, "The RIPD have sent a call in for us and asked us to head down there…they believe it's Lombardi."

"Do they have him?" Olivia asked.

"No, the police say they didn't see anything they just the call in from a driver. The woman couldn't see the license plate or color of the car, just that a girl was thrown from the side."

"If he was driving, who else is working with him?" Elliot asked, his eyes narrowing as he tried to piece it together, "We've got Sing in the cage and he's been here this whole time, there's no way it was him."

"This son of a bitch has another accomplice," Olivia sighed irritated, "How did he get another girl?"

"It was his wife," Cragen answered, "The RIPD found her license on her."

"He killed his own wife?" Fin asked, "that's just messed up."

"Some argument." Munch said, "She clearly did something to piss him off. Maybe she didn't agree with his lifestyle choices."

"Maybe she threatened to call the cops," Elliot replied, "Who says he didn't kidnap her, try to run away…maybe she wanted out and instead of letting her rat him out, he kills her."

"I don't think so, police say she was still, barely alive; they were on their way to the hospital, trying to reinstate her." Cragen said.

"Maybe she knows where he's headed," Olivia added hopeful.

"Well whatever happened, we need to get down there and see if we can gather any more information on him."

_**XxxxX**_

**Kent Hospital Emergency Room  
455 Toll Gate Rd, Warwick, RI 02886  
October 7**

They had arrived at the hospital around two in the morning, almost three hours after the attack. They were tired, but it came with the job so it was nothing unusual. "Ms. Lombardi," Cragen said, entering the curtained area with Olivia and Elliot in tow. Her eyes were red; she had most likely been crying before they arrived and she didn't look too happy to see any more police but she sighed and nodded slowly, wincing at the pain in her neck, "We're sorry for what happened."

"I was pissed at the NYPD for accusing my husband, but when he…" she rubbed at her eyes and drew in a shaky breath, "I don't know where all of his anger came from…it just happened so quickly."

"Can you explain to us what happened, ma'am?" Elliot asked quietly; the woman's eyes flickered between the three detectives before she closed her eyes.

"We were headed for Florida. He didn't tell me why, he just said that we had to get away for a while. But he said it so calmly, I thought he meant like a vacation—,"

"You're apartment was empty when we searched it," Olivia replied.

"Our apartment in West Village?"

"We were given an address in Midtown," Elliot said, "the apartment was completely emptied, with the exception of a few photos taken at Amanda Preston's crime scene. They had the date and her name written on the back. Each one had a time stamp."

"Well we were headed to Florida, but he got onto the wrong exit and said we were just going to have to go through Rhode Island. Stupid me believed him. But then my daughter sent me a photo of the news cast and I confronted him about it. I should have known not to do that…it was right in the article too. He got angry with me, telling me that he was being wrongly accused. I told him we should go back and try to clear his name, tell the police he was innocent but as soon as I mentioned the police, he hit me and pulled a gun out of his coat pocket. I begged him not to hurt me, and he said because he loved me he wouldn't kill me. He figured if he threw me out of the car, it wasn't technically blood on his hands. I didn't move, I was in so much pain but I was afraid he would come back and shoot me for real if I moved."

"You're safe now," Olivia reassured her, moving to sit in the chair next to the bed, "We are determined to find him and lock him away but we need your help. Is there any place he mentioned that he felt safe in? That he could hide away in?" She shook her head, distraught.

"I'm sorry," she sucked in another breath, "he just said we were going to Florida. But he took off on the highway and I have no clue where he's headed now. He never talked much of his past, he said his family life was too dark and so I don't know if there ever was a safe place for him. Can you check on my daughter, please…I'd like to know that she's alright and still at home. I don't believe he'd be crazy enough to return and risk getting caught." When they nodded she returned one and sighed, "I'd like to get some sleep now."

"Thank you for your time," Cragen nodded; a nurse came over and closed off the section as they headed out of the ER and back to the squad cars.

_**XxxxX**_

5:48am, Olivia rubbed at her eyes as they entered the precinct; she felt empty-handed, like they had gone all that way for nothing.

"Get anything from the wife?" Fin asked; Elliot handed Olivia her cup of coffee and sat down across from her at his desk, shaking his head.

"What about you?" He said.

"The phone's been ringing nonstop, but they're all false profiles at the moment." Fin replied. Olivia rolled her neck, the stress wearing on her as she listened.

"For all we know, he could have gotten on a plane in Virginia and left for California," she said, "time's running out and he could already have another girl."

"Virginia's too close a call for him to jump on the next flight." Elliot replied, "The police would probably recognize him. I'm sure any surrounding states would figure him out. He's probably still driving around in a different car."

"I thought we were trying to reassure her we'd catch him," Munch said quizzically; both Fin and Elliot shot him glares but he just shook them off.

"That's what I thought too," Olivia agreed, "I'm not giving up just yet, but if we can't catch him Amanda's case will close and he'll get away with what he's done. I can't let that happen…he was a teacher, and he caused permanent, physical harm to a student. I don't know what Amanda did or said to him, but it definitely pissed him off. I just know that I probably would have said it to because her accusation must not have been that far off. Not just for her, but for myself…I need to catch this guy even if it's the last thing that I ever do on this job." Olivia stood up from her desk and headed up to the bunkers, in hope of getting some sleep.

"Are either of you worried that she might be in a little too far now?" Munch asked.

"Olivia's no different on this case than she is on others. I guess this one just struck her a certain way," Fin concluded, "I can't say that I blame her."

"Once this case is done and Lombardi's behind bars she'll be alright," Elliot added, "As for now, we work on nailing his ass."


End file.
